“Merhaba” which means “hello” is the key to address the Turks. Already very hospitable and very curious by nature, Turkish become charming when address in their language. Unfortunately, it is impossible to engage in lengthy conversations as Turkish is a fairly complex language which has no affinity with French or English. In other words, everything is to be learned, and the mere fact of counting to ten is a feat. Fortunately, most Turks know snatches of French and English, enough to get by.

One of our best chance meetings was in Çavuşin, Cappadocia. Taking what was believed to be a short-cut but which proved a great detour, we met these three men sitting outside a mosque. We saluted them in Turkish and the man with the glasses asked us where we were from in a very rough English. He then asked us to take a picture of him with his friends and send it to him. He gave us his address and the picture will be mailed today so we hope it will get to him.Çavuşin: Cette femme était assise sans bouger sur le trottoir; on ne sait pas trop si elle attendait quelqu’un ou si elle ne faisait que prendre l’air. Elle nous a sourit quand nous l’avons salué mais sans plus. / This woman was sitting motionless on the sidewalk; we don’t know whether she was waiting for someone or if she was just relaxing. She smiled at us when we said hello but no more.Atatürk: Muṣṭafâ Kemâl Paşa, surnommé Atatürk, est le fondateur et le premier président de la République de Turquie. Malgré qu’il soit mort en 1938, il est encore vénéré par la population et son portrait est omniprésent, dans l’espace public ou privé. Ce bureau se trouvait à Uçhisar et comme il n’y avait personne lors de notre passage nous nous sommes empressés d’en prendre une photo. / Muṣṭafâ Kemâl Paşa, known as Atatürk, is the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey. Although he died in 1938, he is still revered by the Turkish people and his portrait is ubiquitous in public or private spaces. This office was located in Uçhisar and as there was nobody when we went by we quickly took a picture.Backgammon: Un passe-temps très populaire en Turquie. Tous les cafés offrent des planches de jeux et l’on voit souvent des hommes y jouer en sirotant leur thé et en fumant une cigarette. (Les turcs fument beaucoup…) Cette photo fut captée à Paşabağları devant une boutique de souvenirs. Ces hommes passaient le temps en attendant les touristes. / A very popular pastime in Turkey. All cafes offer boards and we often saw men playing while sipping their tea and smoking a cigarette. (Turkish smoke a lot…) This photo was captured at Paşabağları at a souvenir shop. These men played while waiting for tourists.Gaziemir: Nous étions en chemin pour visiter une des villes souterraines au retour de la Vallée d’Ihlara quand nous avons aperçu ce troupeau de moutons qui descendaient vers la route pour ensuite la traverser. Un spectacle assez impressionant. / We were on our way to visit one of the underground cities on our way back from the Ihlara Valley when we saw this flock of sheep coming down toward the road and then crossing it. A pretty impressive sight.Ville souterrainne de Gaziemir: Découverte récemment, cette ville souterraine est très peu visitée mais le Guide Michelin lui donnait 2 étoiles. Toutefois, nous avons été un peu déçu car il n’y avait pas grand chose à visiter. Ces jeunes garçons nous ont suivi tout au long de la visite et semblait s’assurer que nous ne manquions aucune des sections. Notre seul moyen de communication avec eux était le sourire et les signes de têtes car ils ne parlaient pas anglais. Ils semblaient prendre plaisir à nous suivre… / Recently discovered, this underground city is rarely visited but the Michelin Guide gave it a two stars. However, we were a little disappointed because there wasn’t much to see. These young boys followed us throughout the tour and seemed to ensure that we had seen all of the sections. Our only means of communication with them was smiles and nods because they didn’t speak English. They seemed to enjoy following us … Un café au milieu de la Vallée de l’Amour en Cappadoce. Nous avons rencontré très fréquemment ce genre de petit café où l’on vend du thé et des boissons. Ils ont toujours des sofas un peu vieillot… / A cafe in the middle of the Love Valley in Cappadocia. We saw such small cafe selling tea and drinks very frequently. They always have old-fashioned sofas…Nous avons souvent rencontré des vieux tracteurs sur les routes de la Cappadoce; il y avait toujours au moins une personne assise sur le côté. / We often met old tractors on the roads of Cappadocia; there was always at least one person sitting on the side.Un chargement de bois sur lequel la femme est assise, sur la route vers Arycanda sur la côté méditerranéenne. / A load of wood on which a woman sits on the road to Arycanda on the Mediterranean CoastVoir plusieurs personnes assis sur une petite moto est chose courante en Turquie. Celui-ci n’avait que monsieur qui conduit (avec un casque, chose rare…) et madame assise en amazone (protégée d’une chute éventuelle par son hijab…) Sur la route vers la Baie de Kekova. / Seeing several people sitting on a small motorcycle is common in Turkey. This one only had a man driving (wearing a helmet, a rare thing…) and the woman sitting sidesaddle (protected from possible fall by her hijab …) On the way to the Bay of Kekova.

Seeing happy groups of old friends just hanging out together is one of the wonders one doesn’t see in the US too much. (All old Americans are locked up or in Florida.) These guys look awesome. I hope they get the photo, as I’m sure it’ll make their day.